Slug casting mold



AWM 7a w3@ A, G. STEVENSQN @93%@93 SLUG CASTING MOLD Filed Deo, 5, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l l; @am QLD l? l /5 A M07 i 1 INVENTOR.

'sfofz 52270522502@ f ATTORNEY SLUG CASTING MOLD Filed Dec. 5, 1954 2 sheets-sheet 2 ml E ATToRNEy Patented Apr. 7, 1936 irse sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 21 Claims.

One important purpose of the invention is to produce a mold which will be of simple and practicable construction and in which a line of short type, such as that suitable for use in multigraph, fudge and/or similar short type machines, may be cast.

Another important purpose is to produce a mold for the casting oi" a slug which includes a separable section containing a line of short type and which mold will be applicable to the mold wheel of any standard line casting machine without calling for any alteration or change in the structure of said Wheel or in the mechanism enrployed in coaction therewith in casting the standard slug with its line of type.

A still further purpose is to provide a mold for the casting of a line of short type which not only may be applied to any machine for the casting of a slug with its line of type of standard size and, moreover, will be of simple and most practicable construction, and will not be liable to get out of order and particularly will not call for special expert care upon the part of the operator.

In the casting of standard sizes of slugs the molds employed are composed of relatively immovable members but in casting slugs for a line of short type the members of the mold must be relatively movable and hence it has been found in practice with prior proposals that crevices or cracks are formed into which the molten metal will find its way and will interfere with the relative movements of the parts of the mold into the position they should occupy in the casting operation.

Another important purpose of my invention, therefore, is to so construct the relatively movable members of the mold as to eliminate all possibility of the molten metal congealing within any crack, crevice or other space where it would interfere with the closing of the two members of the mold into the precise relationship they must occupy in producing perfect slugs.

A still further purpose is to so construct the two parts of the mold that in the initial movement of one member of the mold relatively to the other in opening the mold Will coact with the commonly employed ejector in the operation of ejecting the slug.

Yet another important purpose is to provide the mold itself with means of self-locking nature, that is to say, to provide a mold comprising two relatively movable members provided with complementary elements which are brought into engagement one with the other in the closing of the mold and when so engaged coact in eiectively locking the members in their closed relation ,against all tendency to an accidental opening relative movement thereof.

An additional purpose is to provide a mold, comprising relatively movable members and a means which is placed `under tension in the relative movement of said members to open position and will coact in a morst effective manner positively to effect relative movement to closing position.

Still another purpose of the invention is to provide a mold for casting a slug of standard size having a line of Weakness to provide a separable short type section formed at opposite sides with l aligning grooves, and which slug will be further characterized in that one surface of its main body portion will be :bevelled from front to rear along a line relatively to the upper and lower surfaces of lthe .short section as to facilitate the ejection of thecomplete slug from the mold.

These several purposes and others which `will be evident `to those persons familiar with the invention in its relation to prior proposals with respect to this type of slug-casting molds are embodied in the :structures exemplified by the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several figures.

In said drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a mold embodying novel features which constitute this invention;

Fig. 2 is a View showing the rear surfaces of themold with certain contiguous portions of the cap and base broken away `to disclose the pivot pins, one of said pins being `shown in section and the other in side view, this figure, also showing, in section, the screws which attach the `mold to the mold wheel;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, to show the relative position of the base and Cap of the mold, 4,with the slug therein, prior to the beginning of the ejecting operation on the slug;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. n3, but showing the relative position of the mold members in the initial part of the ejecting movement of the slug;

Fig. `*5 is also a VView similar to Fig, 12, but shows a relative vposition of the parts when the slug has been nearly completely ejected;

Fig. 6 isa detail `perspective view of the cap member of the mold;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the base. member of-themold, showing certain parts thereof yseparated from said member;

Fig. 8 is a view in perspective of the complete slug as formed in the mold;

Fig. 9 is a view in perspective of the short type slug, that is, the face portion thereof after it has been separated from the base;

Fig. 10 is a vertical section on a line through the mold corresponding to the line I D-IU of Fig. 1, but showing a part of the mold wheel and the mold applied thereto;

Fig. 11 is a similar section showing a part of the mold wheel to which the mold is applied, on a line of section corresponding to the line II-II in Fig. l;

Figs. 12, 13 and 14 are detail views of certain modifications wherein the cap member of the mold is slidable bodily at an upward and forward inclination, instead of having pivotal movement, relatively to the base member; Fig. 12 being a view of one end of the thus modied mold, showing a portion of the base member broken away; Fig. 13 being a vertical section on the line I3-I3 of Fig. 12 and Fig. 14 being a detail representation, in perspective, of the end of the cap member.

While the illustrated embodiments will be hereinafter minutely described, it should be understood at the outset that the invention is not restricted to the precise details of said embodiments and, on the contrary, may be otherwise and variously embodied without departing from its spirit as defined in the appended claims.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-11, inclusive, A designates the base and B the cap of the mold, between whose confronting surfaces the slug in its complete form shown in Fig. 8 is cast.

In this particular embodiment the cap B is mounted near its rear surface and at its opposite ends upon correspondingly positioned pins a, a which project toward each other from the ends of the base A and said cap turns pivotally about said pins in its movements in opening and closing the mold.

The cap B is formed at opposite ends of its casting surface with projections, I0, I0 which form closing members at the ends of the casting space between the base and cap, and the base A is formed with recesses I I, I I in which said closing members are seated when the cap is in closing relation with respect to the base. The ends of the face of the cap adjacent said closing members I0, ID are formed with recesses as shown respectively at Ia, IIJb in Fig. 6, and its face is provided with a rigid projection I2 whose upper end is fastened in the recess I IJa with one of its edges abutting against the projection I0 and its outer surface substantially flush with the face of the cap. This rigid projection extends downward from said recess and has a bevelled lower edge I2. The face of the base B is formed with a recess I3 which is so arranged that it will form a seat into which the portion of the projection I2 which extends from the cap is mounted with its outer surface slightly rearward of the plane of the face of the base when the cap is in its said closed relation. The face of the cap, at the end thereof opposite the projection I2, is provided with a resilient finger I4 whose upper end is fastened in the recess IIJb with its edge abutting against the side of the closing member I0 and its outer surface substantially ush with the face of said closing member. This resilient nger projects downward from the cap.

The face of the base is also provided with a resilient finger I5 positioned to engage and exert pressure upon the forward surface of the projection I2, said projection and resilient finger thereby coacting to lock the cap in its proper casting relationship with respect to the base during the casting operation while permitting the cap to be turned pivotally to permit ejection of the cast slug. This resilient nger is mounted in a recess I5 formed in the face of the base A and said base is also formed at the end of its face opposite said recess I5 with an additional recess I E in which is mounted a resilient nger I6 whose end is superimposed on the free end of the resilient finger I4.

In the movement of the cap B to its open position the resilient finger I5 and the resilient iingers I4 and I6 are placed under tension which becomes effective to return the cap automatically to its closed position as soon as the cast slug has been ejected. In order thatthis return may be positive and uninterrupted the ngers I5 and I5 are of varying lengths and engage the projection I2 and finger I4 respectively at places which are not in horizontal alignment one with the other. Thus, the tension exerted upon the cap is at different places in the arc of movement of the pivoted cap, whereby all tendency of stalling or stopping of the movement of the cap before it has fully returned to its closed position is overcome.

Since the spring fingers I5 and IG are set within corresponding recesses I5 and I5 in the opposite ends of the base A and have their outer surfaces substantially flush with the corresponding surface of said base and since the projection I2 and spring nger I4 are similarly arranged with their outer surfaces substantially flush with the face of the cap, there will be no interference presented by these elements to a tight contact or engagement of the face of the mold with the matrices in the casting operation.

The base member A has its face formed, as usual, with alignment grooves I'I', I1 and has along its upper longitudinal portion a rearward projection I8, which also is usual and adapts the base member to be seated in the mold pocket formed in the mold wheel. The pivot pins a project longitudinally toward each other from said rearward projection i 8.

The cap B has its lower rear edge formed with a projection I9 and forward of said projection is formed with a second projection I9. These projections are spaced from each other to provide a casting face 20 between them. These pro jections have oppositely inclined surfaces presented toward each other, the forward surface of the projection I9 being inclined rearwardly and the rear surface of the forward projection I9 being inclined forwardly from its upper end. The projection I 9 is arranged to form the line of weakness (x) extending from end to end of the sug X, as is usual, but the projection I definitely has an ejecting function with respect to the slug, as will hereinafter be more particularly pointed out. From the rear surface of the` upper end of the projection I9 the corresponding surface 2! of the cap is bevelled forwardly toward the top of the latter to prevent interruption, as by the ejector-blade support of line casting machines, for example, of the opening movement of the cap.

The casting surface of the cap is also formed with a longitudinal rib 22 which is spaced from the forward side of the projection I9 and with a longitudinal shoulder 23 forward of said rib. The complementary casting surface of the base A comprises a casting face 24, which cooperates liu with the surface 2G of the cap B in forming the main body of the slug, and also comprises a rib 25, which is arranged forward of and is spaced from said face 24, and a shoulder 26 forward of said rib.

It will be evident that the ribs 22 and 25 of the cap and base, respectively, together with the depressions separating said ribs from the casting faces 2li and 24 and also together with the shoulders 23 and 2E all cooperate in forming the slug X (shown complete in Fig. 8 and in section in Figs. 3, 4 and 5). It also will be apparent that the line of Weakness (.r) is provided to facilitate the separation from the main body of the slug of that part :l: upon which the type faces are formed and which part .r constitutes the line of short type for use in the printing operation. This separation, as is usual, is made after the slug in its complete form has been cast and ejected from the mold.

The body of the slug is characterized, in part, inuthat its lower or back face is bevelled from the line of weakness r to its rear edge 2 so that if said slug were laid upon a at surface it will make contact with said surface only along the lines of its said rear edge and its forward edge 28, the intermediate portion of the `slug being free from `contact with said surface. This particular feature of the slug adapts it to the use of all standard matrices with their standard alignment, thereby overcoming any necessity of changing the alignment of the standard 4matrices or of the machine with which said matrices are employed. In order to produce this bevel the casting face 24 of the base A of the mold is correspondingly inclined upwardly from its back edge 23 for a distance equal to that between the back edge of the slug and the line of weakness r', namely, to the edge 29.

A further characteristic feature of the body of the slug is the formation of the upper surface of its rear end with'a bevel 3d. This bevel 30 is formed by the projection i9 of the cap B and is so correlated with said projection that in the movement of the cap to open position the projection will act upon said bevelled surface to move the slug to a partly ejected position, the remainder of the ejecting movement being derived from the ejector-blade which is standard upon all line casting machines and is indicated at Y in Fig. 5.

The projections I9, l and casting face 2li of the cap B have their ends in abutting relationship with the inner surfaces of the closing members l0, lll at the opposite ends of the casting space and the recesses Il, Il' in the base A in which said closing members operate in opening and closing the mold, are in communication with the grooves or channels 3 l, 3 l which form sumps or chambers in said base below the lower surfaces of the inner sides of the respective closing members. Hence, it will be seen that if any metal seeps between the opposing surfaces of said closing members and the casting face 2d of the base in the casting operation it will be automatically freed by the wiping action of the closing members in the relative movement of the cap and base and will fall into the corresponding chamber 3| or 3l' from which it may be subsequently removed in any appropriate way. Thus,

all liability of interference of movement of the cap to its full closing relationship with the base due to the presence of metal between opposing surfaces outside the casting space, is avoided.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the mold is specially formed not only for the casting of a slug of standard size having a line of weakness extending longitudinally thereof to provide a section which is severable from the main body of the slug and has type faces along one surface, said section thereby constituting a line of short type, but, moreover, is specially formed to adapt it to be applied to the mold Wheel of any standard line casting machine vwith-- out requiring any change in the construction of said wheel or in the mechanism which operates the wheel, including the melting pot and the type matrices with their operating means, which likewise need not be changed in adapting the machine to the use of this mold. It is well understood that the mold Wheel of such a machine is formed with a series of chambers, usually four in number, in which a like number of molds for casting type of different sizes are commonly mounted, respectively. In the operation of the machine, the 4wheel is turned through one-fourth of a complete revolution to bring the particular mold which is to be employed to the station at which it is connected to the melting pot at one side of the mold and operatively related to the matrices at the other side of the mold, which melting pot and matrices are brought into operative relationship with the mold automatically at predetermined times in the movement of the wheel. During the operation, the wheel is ymoved bodily to bring the face of the mold into a close union with the matrices and when this union has been effected the melting pot is moved into a close union with the back of the molddand the metal from said pot is then discharged into the casting space in the mold through a series of openings which have been aligned with said casting space. When the cast has been made the melting pot is caused automatically to recede from the back of the mold and the wheel is caused automatically to recede from the matrices. Said wheel is then rotated throughout three-fourths of a revolution, back to the starting station, and at a predetermined time in the latter part of its movement the mold is opened by appropriate means and the formed slug is ejected therefrom, through the medium of an appropriate ejecting blade. At a predetermined timed relation with respect to the rotative movement of the mold wheel the matrices are automatically returned to their former position and the mold is again closed. During the complete operatic-n with respect to one mold the remaining molds on the mold wheel are not used and when they are to be used, respectively, a different set of matrices is employed and the phases of operation hereinbefore set forth are carried out, but this time the different selected mold, of course, is the one which is brought into operative relationship with the matrices and with the melting pot. The particular mechanisms employed in effecting these phases of operation form no part of my invention and for that reason, and also because they are well understood in the art, are not herein illustrated. The drawings, however, show a part of the mold wheel, designated Z, in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 with my mold applied thereto and, as already stated, show also a part of an ejector blade at Y in Fig. 5.

It will be noticed that the base A of the mold is formed to adapt it to said wheel and is stationarily secured to the latter by bolts 32. Hence, relative movement between the base and cap of the mold is effected by moving the cap in opening and closing the mold. In order that this may be eiTected, means of suitable nature are provided by which the cap is forced to its open position at a predetermined place in the rotative movement of the mold with the mold wheel.

A device, such as the stop pin arranged in the path of movement of the mold and in position to engage the cap and force the latter backward into its open position, provides a suitable means for the purpose. In order that this device may be inoperative with relation to the remaining molds o-n the mold wheel it is of resilient nature so that it will yield upon contact with said remaining molds, and to this end the stop pin 33 when employed is provided with a spring 34 here shown as mounted in the interior thereof. It will be understood, however, that the mold cap B may be opened by any appro-priate means or in any appropriate way, but the illustrated stop pin is simple and practicable and hence preferred.

As hereinbefore stated the initial part of the opening movement of the cap B is transmitted to the rear end of the slug through the projection I9, and thereby initiates the ejection of the slug, which ejection is completed by the ejector-blade Y. It will be noticed that in the ejecting movement o the slug it travels in an upwardly inclined path upon the correspondingly inclined casting face 24 whereby its forward end is thereby raised sufficiently to free the rib which extends longitudinally along the rear side of the section a: of the slug from the groove in the base A in which said rib has been formed. This movement of the slug is important since the base A is stationary and the section :c is of short-type nature.

While the cap B is being opened the resilient fingers lll, l5 and l are placed under tension (the fingers I4 and ES having a mutual tensioning relationship and the finger I5 being tensioned by the locking projection l2, as hereinbefore explained) and thereby act to return the cap to its closed position positively and with absolute certainty and to lock the cap releasably in its said closed position.

It will be understood that this mold may be substituted for any mold employed upon the mold wheel for making a slug ci standard relatively long type style, and that it is not impracticable to mount a plurality oi' series of these molds upon the wheel, for making lines of short type of different sizes, respectively.

In the modification shown in Figs. i2, 13 and le the cap, indicated at EN in these figures, is mounted to have movement bodily in an upward and forward direction, instead of pivotally, in opening the mold, and to have movement in a downward and rearward direction gravitationally in closing the mold. The base in this particular embodiment is marked AX. As here shown, the end of the base AX is formed with a recess GX which forms a guiding channel within which travels a pin ZJX projecting from the corresponding end of the cap BX. 1t will be understood that opposite ends of the cap are provided with such pins and opposite ends of the base are provided with such channels. Since in this construction the cap will return to its closed position gravitationally, it is considered to be unnecessary to emp-loy the resilient ngers illustrated and described with respect to the other embodiments of the invention. In all other material respects, both embodiments are, or may be, alike.

Having thus described the invention what I believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

l. A slug-casting mold comprising a base adapted to be secured stationarily to the face of a mold wheel forming part of a line casting machine, a cap, means mounting said cap for opening movement in an upward and rearward direction, said base and cap having their surfaces adjacent each other complementarily formed to provide a casting space which includes means for forming a line of weakness longitudinally of the slug and adjacent one side of the latter together with an aligning groove substantially parallel with said line of weakness, in combination with means operable against said cap to impart opening movement thereto.

A slug-casting mold according t0 claim 1 in which the casting face of the base is inclined to cause the slug being ejected to traverse an upwardly inclined path.

3. A slug-casting mold comprising relatively movable members having complementary casting surfaces formed to provide a casting space, one ci said members having a projecting portion arranged t0 initiate ejecting movement of the cast slug relative to the members upon movement of said member relatively to the other member.

4. A slug-casting mold comprising a base, a cap movable relatively to said base in opening and closing the mold, said base and cap having complementary casting surfaces, and said cap having a projection which forms a part of its casting surface, said projection being movable toward the base through opening of the cap to initiate ejecting movement of the cast slug.

5. A slug-casting mold according to claim 4 in which the movement of the cap is about a longitudinal axis adjacent the rear face thereof and the said projection is adjacent the axis of said movement,

6. A slug-casting mold according to claim 4 in which the opening movement of the cap is bodily in an upward and forward direction.

7. A slug-casting mold comprising a relatively movable base and cap respectively provided with elements coacting to automatically maintain the cap yieldably in closed position with respect to the base, one of said elements being a rigid projection and the other a spring ringer whose free end has bearing upc-n the outer face of said pro- Y jection.

8. A slug-casting mold comprising a relatively movable base and cap and having automatically operative closing and holding elements including resilient fingers placed under tension in the relative movement of the base and cap to open position.

9. A slug-casting mold comprising a relatively movable base and cap, one of which has its opposite ends provided with a pair of resilient fingers and the other has its opposite ends respectively provided with a rigid projection and a resilient ringer, the resilient fingers at one end of the base and cap having bearing one upon the other and the rigid projection and resilient iinger at the othe end of the base and cap having bearing one upon the other, said fingers and projection coacting to close the mold and maintain the same releasably in closed condition.

10. A slug-Casting mold according to claim 8 in which the closing and holding elements are seated in recesses in the base and cap and have their outer surfaces substantially flush with the faces of said base and cap.

11. A slug-casting mold comprising a base and a cap movable relatively to each other in opening and closing the mold, said base and cap having complementary casting faces, one of which is formed to impart initial ejecting movement to the slug relatively to the base and cap in the relative movement of the base and cap to the open position thereof.

12. A slug-casting mold comprising a stationary base and a cap having pivotal movement re1- atively to the base in opening and closing the mold, said base and cap having complementary casting faces and said cap having as a part of its casting face a projection movable closer to the base to impart initial ejecting movement to the slug relative to the base and cap in the pivotal movement of the cap to its open position.

13. A slug-casting mold according to claim 11 in which the complementary casting faces of the cap and mold are relatively shaped to form a slug having a line of weakness extending longitudinally thereof and also having upper and lower aligning grooves forward of said line of weakness.

14. A slug-casting mold comprising a stationary base and a cap movable relatively tothe base in opening and closing the mold, said base and cap having complementary casting faces relatively shaped to form a slug having a line of Weakness extending longitudinally thereof and also having spaced ribs on both its upper and lower surfaces forward of said line of weakness, and wherein the casting face of the base is inclined forwardly and upwardly toward said line of weakness.

15. A slug-casting mold comprising a base and a cap movable relatively to each other in opening and closing the mold, said base and cap being relatively formed to provide a casting space between their confronting surfaces and having coacting closing surfaces at the ends of said casting space, and said coacting surfaces of the base and cap being relatively arranged to cause any metal deposited thereon to be wiped therefrom by the re1- ative movement of the base and cap, and chambers arranged to receive metal thus wiped from said surfaces.

16. A slug-casting mold according to claim 15 in which the chambers extend from the face to the back of the mold and have their ends open to said face and back, to facilitate removal of metal therefrom.

17. In a machine for casting printers slugs having a line of type upon the face thereof, the combination with an intermittently rotative mold wheel, of a mold carried by said wheel and comprising a base substantially immovable relatively thereto and a cap movable relatively to the base and wheel, said base and cap having their confronting surfaces formed to provide a casting space including means for forming the slug with a severable section to constitute a line of short type, means arranged to automatically move the cap to its open position at a predetermined place in the rotation of the wheel and means operative automatically to eject the formed slug from the thus opened mold.

18. A structure according to claim 17 in which the means for opening the cap is of resilient nature.

19. A structure according to claim 17 in which the means for opening the cap comprises a springpressed pin which acts as a stop in the path of movement of the cap.

2Q. A printers slug having a line of weakness extending longitudinally thereof to provide a severabie section having a line of type surfaces thereon, said section also having aligning grooves in its upper and lower faces and said slug having I:

.its lower surface bevelled downward from the line of weakness to the longitudinal edge of the slug opposite the severable section.

21. A printers slug according to claim 20 in which the rear longitudinal edge of the slug is bevelled in an upward and forward direction.

ASHTON G. STEVENSCN. 

